OctoBaza
by Chiwizard
Summary: ...I've heard that they say, 'Ignorance is bliss.' I wouldn't know. I always know where he is and what my little Yugi is doing...


Decided to try something a little different this time. Enjoy!  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
They say ignorance is bliss.  
  
I wouldn't know.  
  
I make it a habit to know what my grandson and his friends are up to.  
  
Of course I trust them - I just like knowing what to expect.  
  
And naturally, Yugi trusts me and will tell me in great detail all about whatever thing he and his friends did, and all the while I smile to myself and nod.  
  
Yes, yes, I knew that, Yugi, I always know.  
  
Even…all the way back then…  
  
It was in my younger days, back when I traveled the globe in search of all the world's ancient secrets, that I first came across it.  
  
In my many travels, I had come across plenty of other fellows working the same field as I did for very different reasons.  
  
…Never for the pay, that was always _awful_…  
  
Some wanted to find some kind of ancient treasure, for both the wealth and publicity.  
  
Some just liked traveling everyplace.  
  
But there were a few of us…myself, Arthur, some others - we sought knowledge for knowledge's sake.  
  
I was barely out of college when I went on my first excavation.  
  
We found dirt, rocks, more dirt, fossilized bat droppings, and a shard of a featureless pot.  
  
Nevertheless, I was still determined to discover everything I could about the ancient world.  
  
Oh dear, I've rambled off again, excuse me.  
  
Where was I?  
  
Oh yes.  
  
IT.  
  
I wasn't the one that found It first - some others that I never got a chance to meet broke the sealed door and removed that golden treasure.  
  
A friend of theirs, one who wasn't an archeologist and wasn't there at the site, found their bodies.  
  
He was also a friend of mine, and contacted me…and I checked it out.  
  
It was eerily beautiful, that shining golden box.  
  
Most scientists will tell you things like curses and magic are figments of the imagination,   
  
but I could feel the darkness locked inside that box.  
  
I didn't open it.  
  
The three dead fellows - after all this time I've forgotten their names - had looked inside, and had recorded their findings.  
  
Inside this box was a golden puzzle.  
  
Outside the box, carved in hieroglyphics, was a riddle.  
  
"The one you can seen, but is seldom seen."  
  
The moment those words registered in my brain, I acted without thinking.  
  
I took that box, that shining box, and I left Egypt the same day.  
  
The writings of the dead fellows, it was so garbled and unintelligible as insanity devoured them, that no one believed they had found a box of gold holding a golden puzzle.  
  
But I knew it was true.  
  
Call it an old man's intuition, but I could sense what was inside that box even without taking a look.  
  
Eventually, I got married and stopped traveling so much, staying with my wife to raise our son.  
  
When I found him looking inside the golden box one day, it occurred to me that maybe I was allowed to take it without suffering a curse was because maybe one of my family was destined for the golden treasure.  
  
Ancient Egyptians did believe in destiny after all…somewhere on my own father's side of the family, we were descended from Egypt, I believe.  
  
Back to my son…he spent weeks on the puzzle, but couldn't even fit two pieces together.  
  
He gave up, got a good education, and then got married.  
  
My wife passed away…my son and my daughter-in-law had a child, and then, as they said in the ancient worlds, left to join the spirits beyond.  
  
Leaving me, an old man, with a bright and bouncing grandson they'd named Yugi.  
  
During all this activity, the shining box sat on a shelf in the storeroom, gathering dust.  
  
I'd almost completely forgotten about it until Yugi turned eight.  
  
He was helping me in the storeroom that day, and we were talking about any number of things as the old junk got sorted around.  
  
One thing we _weren't_ talking about was how Yugi was having a harder time in school, due to his small size versus the much larger bullies, but only because I wasn't going to bring that up unless Yugi asked for help.  
  
The phone rang…Yugi ran to answer it, and as he passed a certain part of the shelf, a soft golden glow got my attention.  
  
It was that shining treasure box, glowing as Yugi passed by completely unaware.  
  
The feeling of darkness grew inside it, and I suddenly knew Yugi was supposed to have it.  
  
As I thought of that, Yugi came back and informed me that the call was for me.  
  
I can't remember a single word, but Arthur was understanding that I didn't pay any attention to him at all.  
  
Actually, some young child, or infant, or maybe just a really unhappy woman was wailing in the background, so he could barely hear himself talk…  
  
In any case, when I returned to the storeroom I found Yugi holding the box in his hands.  
  
"Ah! Grandpa! I was just - just -"  
  
"Would you like to see what's inside," I asked with a grin.  
  
He seemed in awe of the glittering puzzle pieces, and was even more so when I mentioned his own father had failed to solve it.  
  
"Say, why don't you try solving it Yugi? You like puzzles, so this one might last you a little while, eh?"  
  
"Oh, thank you Grandpa!"  
  
Eight years later, he was still trying to solve it.  
  
I had to hand it to my grandson, when he decides to do something he really sticks to it.  
  
He'd even put a few pieces together before that night.  
  
It was a cloudless night, with a full moon as I recall, and Yugi was in his room working on the puzzle.  
  
I had refrained from asking him about the many bruises he was sporting after school today, and he was very sad about it, but hopefully working on the puzzle would make him feel better…  
  
The door chime rang as someone entered.  
  
A blond boy about Yugi's age stepped into the store, soaked from head to toe.  
  
"Um, does a kid named Yugi live here?"  
  
"Yes, I'm his grandfather," I greeted the boy, "And who might you be?"  
  
"Jounouchi Katsuya," he mumbled, before spilling out a very interesting story.  
  
Almost losing a piece of the puzzle for good…and being blackmailed too…I knew Yugi would never even consider asking me for that much money, but I took the piece and promised the boy I would not tell Yugi exactly who had been by.  
  
I did tell him a soaked blond boy had visited, and gave him the last piece - the rest of the puzzle was solved, much to my amazement - and slipped more than enough money to cover Yugi's blackmail problem into his bag before leaving.  
  
There was something, the last scribbled writing of those poor three fellows, that was strangely clear.  
  
'The games of darkness rest within…'  
  
I hoped the power of shadows that puzzle contained would help my grandson, as I closed up the shop and went to bed and pretended I didn't notice the magical explosion of energy from my grandson's now-empty bedroom.  
  
The next morning, he came downstairs beaming, the completed Puzzle hanging from his neck.  
  
He headed right off to school…I didn't even comment about how his many bruises had mysteriously vanished, nor that the Puzzle's dark aura finally seemed at peace.  
  
After all, that information's _my_ little secret.  
  
~Fini~ 


End file.
